That's Life: Hello Gladys...

Hello friends...

I hope you all had the best weekend you could wish for and as we head into another week, it's time for a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge which this week is all about BRIGHT AND CHEERFUL!

I know it's probably hard to feel cheerful when so many are suffering in the Ukraine, but we hope that you will join us and bring some sunshine into the world with your projects!

For my make, I used a Mini Etcetera Tag to create a project using one of my favourite dies from the recent Tim Holtz/Sizzix Chapter 1 release and may I introduce you to Gladys, who is making her first appearance on my blog and definitely making herself at home.

So let's get started, and here's how I created this week's make!

BACKGROUND

To begin with I created the background. I cut a panel of Mixed Media Heavystock Card that would fit the Mini Etcetera Tag and then applied Crackle Paste through the Bouquet Layering Stencil. The tag is slightly larger than the stencil, and because I wanted to cover the entire background, I placed the cardstock vertically and then laid the stencil down horizontally across the top section of the cardstock, applied the paste, removed the stencil and allowed to dry and crackles were appearing.

Once the paste was touch dry, I placed the stencil back onto my cardstock, this time placing it just beneath the top layer and I applied the paste onto the lower section of card.

Again allow for the paste to throughly dry.

To add colour, I used Wild Honey and Speckled Egg Distress Spray Stains and spritzed these directly onto the stenciled card stock and gently heat dried the stain.

If there is too much of any one colour, just dab away with a paper towel.

Once I was happy, I inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink before I machine stitched a border around the outside of the card and then adhered it onto my tag using Matte Collage Medium.

So, we now have a background ready for the next layer, "Hello There".

HELLO THERE

I cut a panel of watercolour card the width of the tag, and approx 6cm in depth. I then placed the Hello There die onto the left hand side of the cardstock ~ this die is from the Bold Text Thinlits Die Set. After die cutting into the cardstock, I removed the letters which I will use at a later date.

I spritzed Speckled Egg and Frayed Burlap Distress Spray Stains onto the card which I slightly dampened with a mist of water and then heat dried it.

Once again, I stitched a border around the outside before I matted it onto a second layer of card that I had previously inked with Mustard Seed and Wild Honey Distress Spray Stains.

I mounted the die cut banner onto my tag using foam pads for added height.

GLADYS

Now for the star of the show, Gladys.

She is super easy to put together, and there aren't that many layers to her ~ so, if you've always wanted to try one of Tim's Colorize Dies, then try Gladys.

Colours used:

KITSCH FLAMINGO - Body

MUSTARD SEED - Beak

BLACK KRAFT STASH CARD - Legs, beak and eyes

WHITE CARD - Eyes

Once I'd coloured all my watercolour card stock, I applied Adhesive Sheets to the back of it, and then cut all the pieces for assembling Gladys.

I inked the edges of each piece using Distress Inks. I chose colours that were slightly darker in shade than the main colour ~ ie. Picked Raspberry around the edges of the Kitsch Flamingo and Wild Honey for the Mustard Seed. I also find that doing this will create a natural shading to the layers once you attach them, which if you're not great with watercolouring, then this is an easy way to do it. I finished Gladys with some white pen work on the body.

With Gladys now ready to join the party, I added foam onto the back and set her to one side.

FOLIAGE

For the palm leaves, I used one of the dies from the Sizzix/Tim Holtz Large Funky Florals Thinlits Die Set and cut each leaf from Mixed Media Heavystock Card that I had coloured with Rustic Wilderness and Bundled Sage Distress Spray Stains.

I then arranged the leaves in the top left hand corner...

...and the bottom right hand corner, placing Gladys to stand in them.

To complete this arrangement, I attached a couple of the smaller idea-ology Floral Adornments. To colour these, I used Picked Raspberry Distress Glaze. I used the Embossing Dabber to add ink to the surface fo the metal and then sprinkled the powder over the top, tapping away the excess and then heat embossing.

I attached the florals with hot glue, layering them over the top of a small clump of moss.

BUNTING

Now to make the bunting and I used the die from the Bunny Games Thinlits Die Set and cut scraps of card that I always have leftover from previous projects and placed in my scrap card box.

I layered the coloured flags onto the main die cut piece and then attached them to my tag.

To complete the bunting, I tied tiny knots of twine and attached these with Matte Collage Medium, onto each end of the bunting.

We're nearly there and all that's left is the tiny details...

I hammered some Tack Nails into the banner, and then placed some moss around the base of each tack.

Finally on the opposite side of the banner, I added two tiny "x stitches" using the Media Marks Die Set. I die cut these for a previous project, and always have a few left over, so they were perfect to attach and complete this make.

So, that's my project finished for this week, and I hope you all love what I've made and it's bought some brightness and a smile into your day!

As always, if you make anything, or if you've been inspired by anything that you've seen here on my blog ~ then please, let me know by tagging me on social media or leaving a comment here and I will be right over to take a look!

Don't forget that every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $25 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp and you can join in up to 5 times, which means you could have 5 chances to win. You have until next Monday at 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....